The Lost (30k Primarch Quest)

VI. Shang

You take care of the children quickly. There's a lot of things in the world you'll chance missing. The chance to cook and eat whale meat is not one of them.

By the time you arrive, there's already grills and cookouts going on by the side of the whale being butchered. There's tall pots, grills, even an open fire. You see sashimi, steak, burgers, even one guy making tacos. And…

…is that whale bacon?!

Well that settles that, Caihong definitely killed you. You breathe deeply of the air of pirate heaven.

… wait, no, that doesn't make sense. Pirates in heaven would've tried to steal from hell and brought it up with them. Hrm. Guess this was still life then. But wouldn't mixing heaven and hell make regular ol' life anyway? No, the endless good of heaven and the endless evil of hell would cancel each other out and annihilate each other, so heaven would shrink but it would still be the same. Or maybe-

Someone barges past you in the middle of your very important thoughts on the nature of heaven and hell; curly black hair, tanned skin and a big serpent tattoo on the arm, that was Maia. She immediately grabbed a piece of whale bacon (ignoring both the protest of the cook and the burning of grease on her fingers) and plopped it straight into her mouth.

She shuddered. "Mmm… chewy…"

"Ye daft tit!!" The cook yelled. "I'm not cooking this for random strangers!"

You grab the chef by the shoulder. "I'm sorry for my crewmate's rudeness, mate. Here," You hand him a coin and he calms down… right up until Maia steals a second piece and plops it in her mouth again.

"What?" Maia asks. "It tastes better when you steal it."

You sigh. She's right but it's silly of her.

-

Maia isn't the only one to come down for the whale meat. You find Han making sashimi and… wrapping it in whale bacon? Whatever gets him going, you suppose. Eun is here as well, her black hair tied back as she salutes you. "Shanwei."

"Sun-Sin will do fine when we're off the ship." You grin. "Come on, relax, live a little."

"Aye-aye!" Maia laughs, holding up some of Han's uncooked sashimi. Before she can get it in her mouth, Han grabs her wrist.

"Don't." Han says. "Need to cook it first, kill the parasites."

"There are parasites in this?"

"Do you want to find out?"

Maia pouts but gives the meat back.

"Eun," You say, "you were about to ask me something on the way back and I brushed you off, sorry. What did you want to say?"

Eun goes still for a moment, then shakes her head. "Nothing important. I had questions about the Rude Awakening."

Oh. Well, that was okay then.

Maia laughs, slapping Eun's back. "Now that was a prize!"

"It was a good raid." Han nodded.

You grin as you look over your crew. "I lost track of some of the action in that fight. Han, how'd you handle fighting without your fancy pistols?"

"Never. Again." Han groans. "You ever try to kill a man with your bare hands?"

Maia laughs. "Hell yeah, crackin' necks and bustin' heads, best feeling in the world!"

"It sucks."

"Nah, you just didn't do it right!" Maia continues. "I saw you, trying to bash her head open on the railing. Gotta twist just right so it breaks the jaw at the same time as the neck, really get a nice crack in."

Han raises an eyebrow. "That… you're a little messed up."

"Aw, you know you love it."

"I kept throwing them overboard." Eun brushes her ponytail back, looking mighty pleased with herself. "Felt like a nice bit of revenge."

"Reminds me. Eun," You grin, putting an arm around her, "how many did you kill before they surrendered? Two? Three?"

"You mean two or three more than you?" She yawns. "Final count was thirty six without even breaking a sweat."

"Oh, not bad for a loser." You grin. "Sixty eight, plus the captain. Seems I won our little bet."

"Yeah, you did." Her eyes twinkle. "Too bad we never established what we were betting on. You win nothing."

You laugh. "Bragging rights!"

"Bragging rights can't buy you fresh meat."

You turn to Han. "Hey Han, I beat Eun in a bet, can I have sashimi?"

"Sure." He tosses a piece at you and you chomp it down.

Maia laughs, and Eun slaps the back of your head.

Han clears his throat. "Actually, speaking of the ship… what did you do with the kids?"

You shrug. "I left most of them with Hana, for now. The one with the noble clothes is with Oda, he's trying to figure out what House he came from."

"Is Fan staying with them?" Eun asks.

You frown. "Even Hana doesn't like her. I had to promise to pick her up and keep her home."

Bringing an orphanage worth of witch children into port isn't the most popular move you've ever made, but you were able to find a good place for the kids. Hana's a bit of a miracle worker when it comes to medicine.

"Yeah. Not a lot of plunder, but it feels good to help out every once in a while." Han said, flipping some of his grilling meat over. "Caihong must've been overjoyed."

You snort. "Why would she be?"

"Cuz you helped out the slave kids?"

"… so? Why would she care?"

Maia looks at you like she's not sure if you're serious. "Caihong was a slave before joining up with the fleet. Must've felt some kinship with them, yeah?"

You raised an eyebrow. "Really? I didn't know that. She seemed her usual glass-in-the-anus self."

Maia shrugs, biting into some of the cooked sashimi. "I got the impression she didn't like talking about it, ya know? We all got a few things we don't like to bring up. Most of them related to before the fleet."

Han and Eun don't comment. There's no need to.

You frown as your thoughts drift back to old territory. The Queen told you all she could, of course. You fell from the stars in a pod, a pod that the tech monks say was a gestation chamber, meant to house you and teach you until you grew. But something or someone had ripped it from its intended casing, and it had eventually landed on Tabgach.

That was horrifying and confusing for a number of reasons, but the one you'd never get an answer to was why. You're no fool; you grew to adulthood within a year and you have knowledge and abilities none around you can ever hope to match. Even if one could ignore the strength, speed, and ability to absorb knowledge like a sponge, none around you can control the weather. You were manufactured. But why? And why would you then be… well, as far as you know, abandoned? Were you simply not enough? Were you stolen away? You don't know.

And there's no way for you to know. The legendary starships no longer exist. If anyone could ever get access to them, it'd be the Kuji-Nan. But even if they had it, they wouldn't share it, and if they did, where would you even look?

"Changing the subject…" Eun clears her throat. "I- we are glad you were fighting with us, sir. If you hadn't been leading us, we wouldn't have been able to take the Rude Awakening."

"Of course you could have." You wink at her. "Not as stylishly, of course."

"Still, we appreciated it. So I went and got you something." Eun holds out some marbled meat that it takes you a moment to recognize.

Your mouth falls open. "Is that… onomi?!"

Eun grins wide. "One of the butchers might've owed me a favor."

Your own grin is wider. Meat from the base of the whale's tail fin was the most sought-after part of the beast. It was perfect for a steak (or sashimi, but Han clearly has that covered). You rub your hands together vigorously. "Let's find some spices and get a fire going …"

-

You rub in the sauces and spices, loving the texture of the whale meat. The spices clump up a bit together, but you spread it out over the meat on both sides. You let it seep deeper into the meat for a few minutes to give it a deeper flavor before you finally put the meat on the grill.

The sizzle is music to your ears. There's nothing quite like the smell of cooking meat over a fire. The smoke has never really bothered you (you can breathe in just about anything). Cooking meat is more art than science, but by a single sniff you can tell just how well done the meat is all throughout. So by the time you take it off the grill, you already know it's perfectly done, exactly as your crewmates like it. Maia and Han wanted theirs medium rare, Eun wanted it medium.

And then… Eun brings you something warm and brothy, like a stew.

"What is it?"

"Oden." She says. "I wanted to go for something less common than sashimi or steak, give the cookout a bit of variety."

Han cocks his head as he looks at the steamy broth. "I didn't know you could make oden with whale."

Eun smiles. "It's not common, but it can be done with the tongue."

Eun's oden fills you up, warming you from your heart to the ends of your toes. You smile at her, and she melts. It's been a while since you've been able to just lay back and relax. The whole incident with the slavers had been a shock, and it only begins sinking in now just how big of one.

This is your crew. You are home. And nothing-

"Caihong?" Eun asks.

Gods dammit.

Caihong's come, and she looks less than enthused. "Shanwei, there's a problem."

"Is it an immediate one?"

"No but-"

"Then eat some of the food or go away." You scowl at her. "I don't care which."

Han holds out some of his sashimi. Caihong shakes her head as she takes some. "You're going to want to know this before you talk to the Queen, sir."

Eun glances between the two of you, eyebrow raised. "Should we go, or…?"

"No." You growl, putting an arm around her. "Crew is crew. If she can say it to me she can say it to the rest."

"Sir," Caihong says through gritted teeth, "I really think you're not going to want to spread-"

"Just tell me Caihong."

"… Fine."

She tells you. You almost blow her head off. Eun gapes. Maia spit-takes. Han… shrugs and holds some sashimi out to Caihong.

You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. "… you're sure?"

"I checked twice." She growls, taking the second piece. "And an additional time with their navigator. He confirmed it. And frankly he's not a very good liar."

"She's not gonna like that." Eun mutters.

She's right.

-

The Queen's "palace" is one of the very few buildings in Shang that doesn't look like it was assembled from wrecked ships. The home is set upon a raised platform atop the cove, on earth instead of flotsam. Curved tiles on the roof meet at a high point at the center and curve upward at the building's corners, giving it a royal appearance fitting the title of Pirate Queen. The building is set with spaced timber posts and horizontal cross-beams.

The first room that one encounters on climbing up to the house and opening the front door is the throne room, set open so the throne is facing the city below. On it rests a woman with graying hair and a red dress, said to have been stained with the blood of her enemies. (She insists it's just a rare form of dye but that can't be true, it's too boring).

You kowtow. "My queen."

"On your feet, boy." The Queen grimaces as she stands, and you almost tell her to stop, but bite your tongue. Instead you stand, and the two of you embrace.

The Reaver Queen was, once upon a time, the most feared woman on the sea. In many ways, she still is; she commands a pirate fleet over a hundred ships strong. But she's getting old, and a life of pillaging and plundering is catching up to her. Her every movement is now accompanied with a grimace or a twinge, and you hold in your comments every time. She'd shoot you out of a cannon into a group of starving sharks that were also on fire if you expressed any concern for her. You'd probably survive, but it'd still be painful.

You release her, and point to the Rude Awakening, sitting in the docks below. "Ship of the line, formerly the property of a group of slavers. She's about the size of the Rising Sun. You're welcome."

She laughs. "Guess I owe Cao a flagon. Bastard."

"… you bet against my first raid?"

"I bet against you slaughtering your first captured vessel, but if they were slavers..."

You laugh. "Well, we kept one. Their navigator."

"Good enough! Cao you owe me a pint!"

Cao rolls his eyes. The Queen never loses a bet. "Yes ma'am."

"We took some losses, so we'll be recruiting for a bit. Then, I have a bit of a request. We know the general area where their base is, the eternal storm."

She shrugs. "So go if you want to go, what's the issue?"

"If they had a ship of the line and were able to get dozens of witches onto one ship for transport, then we're not talking a small operation. It's something big."

"Ah." She steeples her fingers, looking at you with a slight grin. "You want the fleet to participate."

You nod. "I know it's short notice and I was just recently made shanwei but I can't imagine any of the captains will object to slaughtering slavers."

She shakes her head. "They won't, which leaves me wondering what the catch is."

"Huh?"

"This sounds piss easy; check the islands around the eternal storm, blow up some slavers. But if it were so simple you wouldn't have come to me at all, or you'd have asked to keep the Rude Awakening and take it out. So what's the catch?"

Caihong looks at you. You nod.

"… There's one problem." Caihong says.

The Queen raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"It's not near the eternal storm. It's in the Eternal Storm."

She stares at Caihong a moment, then looks at you. "The Dajufeng."

"Yes."

"You two are not joking with me."

"Not on this, it's too ridiculous to make up." You grumble. "And according to Caihong, his maps are in code. We can break it, but it'd probably be faster to just ask him to translate in exchange for his life."

"There isn't supposed to be anything in the storm but wrecked ships and drowned corpses." The Queen leaned forward, running a hand along her chin. "How did they get through the storm, then?"

Caihong grimaces. "According to him? Torturing one of the adult 'witches' until they arrived. And I'm not sure he was being truthful when he said 'adult'."

"…Well-" Cao begins.

"NO." You, Caihong and the Queen all say simultaneously.

"Just making sure." Cao shrugs. He's always been the ruthless one, though he insists he only brings up cruelties when they'd be simpler. "Well, if we can't calm a way through the storm, we'd have to sail through it. That's madness."

"Says who?" You grin.

"No one can sail the storm," The Queen says.

"I can sail through anything."

"Even if you could, where would you go?" The Queen sighs, leaning back against her throne. "My son, the Dajufeng is called the Storm for a reason. It's huge. And you'd have to sail through it while also looking for a safe place to land, then you'd have to search every location you found for a group of slavers that don't want to be found."

"There is another option," Caihong says.

You glance at her, raising an eyebrow. She inhales briefly, then sighs. "Jiang Wei was their navigator. He knew exactly where they were going…" She hesitates. "… I think I could convince him to point the way directly."

Your eyebrow climbs higher. "I don't mean any offense at all when I say this but you don't exactly make friends."

"The point being," She continues through gritted teeth, "If we know exactly where to go and what we're looking for we can get into the storm and out quickly."

The Queen sighs. "You'd still have to go alone."

"But my queen, they took your flag-" Caihong begins.

"And you took it back."

"But-"

"Shut it." The queen stood up. "I cannot and will not ask my captains to risk their ships in the Dajufeng without good cause. Now if you two have something else you want the fleet to do, I can ask about that."

Caihong's fists clench at the words 'good cause', and she almost speaks up. But she doesn't. She turns to leave.

You put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from leaving, then turn to the Queen. "Fine." You say. "Then I'll tell you where I'm going to go and you can do what you please in response."

The Queen raises an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

-

Voting

Your blood is boiling. The slavers need to die, or at the very least have their operation broken beyond repair. You were hoping to get the entire fleet in on this, given that they stole the Queen's flag, but if all you can rely on is yourself, you'll have to make do.

So what're you gunning for?

[] – The Source

Going into the Dajufeng alone is suicidal nonsense that you're not dumb enough to try just for kicks. Not when there's an easy way to draw the enemy out.

The base is a wash, but Caihong was able to find a few different places where the slavers were picking up the kids. You're certain that you could hit these places one after another, rapidly enough that whoever's doing this would have no ability to stop you. No supply means that they'll have to come out of hiding, and when they do, you can destroy them on your terms.

(You'll target their supply of psyker children, both freeing them and drawing your enemy out into the open. Then you can break them open with the full force of the fleet. However, this will take time and allows your enemy to decide where and when they will counter-attack.)

[] – The Storm

If mortal sailors can go into the Storm on the regular, surely you can too, with or without child torture. (For the record that's a figure of speech; there will be no child torture).

Jiang Wei was the ship's navigator, and you have his maps. He probably knows where you need to go to find whoever's been taking the kids. And once you destroy them, demand for witches will dry up. Problem solved.

(You'll go into the Storm Eternal using Jiang Wei's navigational skills and maps, with your ability to sail through a storm carrying you through. A single decapitating strike to end these peoples' operations once and for all. However, you and your crew will be alone against whatever this enemy has to throw at you.)

[] – The Scion

The slavers are a problem, yes, but they must have sellers. There's no way they found this many witches by coincidence.

If any of the children were sold rather than kidnapped outright, it'd be the one well-dressed boy. Assuming Oda can find the House he came from, returning him would present you with an opportunity to blackmail the nobles into telling you everything.

You'd also get to raid/blackmail a family that tried to get rid of their child so hey, bonus.

(You'll gather more information on who's taking these witches and why, starting by figuring out where the psyker kids themselves come from. Your eventual attack will be all the stronger. Once you know what you're up against, you'll be able to get a larger fleet commitment and a better plan. However, this will take time and there's little guarantee of success.)

[] – Write-in; you do not need the first letter to be an S